This exhibition is my response to the increasingly extreme effects of climate change. Initially the new images of West Coast wildfires became so frequent, that it inspired me to use watercolor to create direct and intense color works. The inclusion of a single fireman or several fire fighters became the focal point(s) while ships, figures or wildlife created compositional elements in works that included glaciers and icebergs. The flip side of mega-fires and drought, is the warming and melting of glaciers and the polar ice caps, where temperatures have broken all historic records in the last year.
Focal points within these works are meant to draw the viewer in, using the figure(s) as the emotional focal point(s) within a geometric armature while utilizing rations like the Golden Section and other proportions to create dynamic and harmonious compositions.
The use of geometric ratios and grids is a tool that has been utilized in my work since the mid 90's and is one approach to composition that allows me to enhance the focal point and movement within the narrative painting.
We are living in a geological age highly influenced by human activity (anthropocene) and our unprecedented use of fossil fuels in the last century. The emergence of mega-fires, decades long droughts, massive flooding and many extreme weather events around the world, shows the severe impacts of climate change on the planet. The last decade is now on record as being the hottest ten years since temperatures started being recorded, hence the expansion of the normal fire season into a nearly year round situation. Extreme heat has also been an effect of climate change, contributing to increasing use of emergency orders to keep people from dying of heat exhaustion and stroke.
Videos and photos of the exhibition at the Coos Art Museum, which was held from July through September of 2022, may be seen on my instagram page @hanlon/239.
